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My DIY press brake 1

Here is my cheap solution for my need to find a way to bend some ¼” aluminum diamond plate for some brackets I needed to make. I made it after seeing some examples of DIY press brakes online. All welding was done with my MM211 with .035 wire. The die I made from an old piece of ½” thick railroad scrap I found at the local Rail Road crossing.

The 3/16” x 1 ½” and 3/16” x 2” angle iron and ¾” round bar I had left over from other projects. The ¼” steel base plate I cut from the edge of a larger piece I was using as a welding table top. The round pipe was scrap left over after relocating some steam radiators in my house.

I cut the railroad scrap down to about 12’ x 2½” with a cheapo 4 ½” Harbor Freight/Northern grinder with a good quality cut-off disk. I started out by using my plasma cutter on it, but found that the low-tech method of using the grinder and cut-off wheel worked better, leaving a beautiful clean edge.

I then used the plasma at an angle to get a rough point along the edge, and then finish ground the point with another cheapo grinder with a grinding wheel. (They are so cheap, I keep four, each with different disks and brushes on them for different needs. It is easier than swapping the disks.)

I cut two pieces of the 1 ½” angle iron to the same length, and welded them, butted up against each other to form a c-channel, almost to the edge of my ¼” steel plate. Then I cut the ¾” bar to two pieces of the same length. These got welded into the angle iron to act as structural support to go underneath the bottom die.

The top gets slid onto the posts, and that’s it. I welded it along the edge of a larger piece of 1/4" plate i am using for my welding table, and just cut the edge of the plate off the table when I was done. (The table fits better in my garage now). I will add suitable springs under the pipe on each side when I can scrounge some up somewhere. In the mean time, it works for me. It bends 3/8” flat stock like butter